JJ's Helping Paws

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JJ's Helping Paws Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from JJ's Helping Paws, 224 N Cottonwood Avenue, Canon City, CO.

We are a non-profit, all-volunteer organization whose mission is to improve the lives of cats and dogs in Fremont County by working to reduce unwanted litters, educating pet owners about responsible ownership, and helping mitigate the cost of spay/neuter.

Monday Mood: Mingling! 🐾💕Our foster families do an incredible job helping shy and timid kittens learn to trust humans, b...
10/12/2026

Monday Mood: Mingling! 🐾💕

Our foster families do an incredible job helping shy and timid kittens learn to trust humans, but there's one little catch - getting comfortable with ONE human doesn't necessarily mean they're comfortable with ALL humans!

That's where our amazing volunteers come in!

Auntie Cathi's foster kittens Sinatra, Whitney, and Etta have been getting some extra visitors lately, helping them learn that new faces, different voices, and unfamiliar hands can mean good things, too!

These little socialization sessions are such an important part of preparing our kittens for their future forever homes. Every gentle interaction, cuddle and positive experience helps build their confidence and teaches them that the world isn't quite so scary.

We're so grateful for the volunteers who share their time, patience and love with our foster babies.

Sometimes, the best way to help a kitten grow is simply to show up and spend a little time loving on them. 🥹

After all, the more humans they learn to love, the better prepared they'll be to find their very own! 💕

🐾 🩶 Socialization Sunday: Introducing Ozzie! 🩶🐾Apparently, gray really IS the color of the season! 😂If you caught Friday...
10/11/2026

🐾 🩶 Socialization Sunday: Introducing Ozzie! 🩶🐾

Apparently, gray really IS the color of the season! 😂

If you caught Friday’s post about our latest TNR clinic, you know we’ve been working diligently to stabilize a large colony, which happens to have an overwhelming number of gorgeous gray kitties. And while our primary goal is to spay, neuter, vaccinate and return the adults, sometimes we find a little someone who has a different future ahead of them.

Meet Ozzie! 🩶

This handsome little guy, approximately 9 weeks old, was scooped up by Liz during this week’s TNR efforts and quickly landed in the loving care of foster Auntie Chris.

And what a difference a few days can make!

On Day 1, Ozzie was absolutely terrified (last photo). New surroundings, unfamiliar people and no idea what was happening to him. He also needed some TLC for his eyes, which Chris has been treating with noticeable improvement in just a few days.

But here’s where the socialization magic happens. ✨

With patience, gentle handling and lots of reassurance, Ozzie is already discovering that humans aren’t so scary after all. In fact, he’s becoming quite the fan of massages, belly rubs and snuggling up with his foster mama!

Auntie Chris tells him every day that he is “the Strong and Powerful OZ!” 💪 And with every passing day, this little guy seems to believe her a little more.

From a frightened colony kitten to a professional blanket-enthusiast and aspiring cuddle bug in just a few days, Ozzie is a wonderful reminder of why we work so hard to identify young kittens who we may be able to socialize during our TNR efforts.

Though he’s not ready for his forever home just yet, we’re hopeful he’ll be ready to take that next step with one of our amazing adoption partners soon.

For now, he’s safe, loved and learning that life on the other side of the trap can be pretty wonderful. 🩶

We’re just ONE week away!! 🎉🐾JJ’s HUGE Yard Sale & Canned Cat Food Drive is next weekend, and we are officially counting...
10/10/2026

We’re just ONE week away!! 🎉🐾

JJ’s HUGE Yard Sale & Canned Cat Food Drive is next weekend, and we are officially counting down!

📅 Saturday, October 17 & Sunday, October 18
⏰ 8 AM-2 PM both days
📍 1635 Sherman Ave, Cañon City

A few important reminders before the big weekend:

🐾 We are no longer accepting yard sale donations - our community has been incredibly generous, and we have more than we can fit!

🐾 We have plenty of volunteers lined up, so no additional help is needed - but we truly appreciate everyone who has offered.

🐾 We’ll be accepting credit/debit cards, Venmo and cash.

🐾 NO early birds, please. We’ll be ready to welcome everyone at 8 AM.

🐾 If you can, please bring canned CAT food for our community kitties! Any canned cat food is helpful, but Friskies pâté is what we use most often for our colony cats and is currently our biggest need.

And an important voucher update:

Our Voucher Team will NOT be at Tractor Supply next Saturday.

Instead, they’ll be at the yard sale from 8 AM-2 PM BOTH Saturday and Sunday selling low-cost spay/neuter vouchers for pet cats and dogs.

This is our largest fundraiser of the year, and every purchase helps support JJ’s life-saving programs right here in our community.

Please SHARE and help us spread the word - we hope to see you next weekend! 🐾

Happy Fri-YAY! 🐾🩶Apparently, gray is the color of the season! At least according to one of the colonies we’ve been worki...
10/09/2026

Happy Fri-YAY! 🐾🩶

Apparently, gray is the color of the season! At least according to one of the colonies we’ve been working with. 😂

Yesterday was a BIG day for our TNR team. Lots of moving pieces, tons of coordination, and one massive team effort to help stabilize a large colony in our community. 💗

Thanks to our incredible partnership with Fremont Veterinary Hospital, 15 community cats - 10 females and 5 males - were trapped, spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Once recovered, they’ll be returned to their familiar outdoor home, where they can live without contributing to the cycle of unwanted litters.

But we didn’t stop there! An additional 5 community kitties were taken to Colorado Springs today for their spay/neuter surgeries with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR).

That’s 20 kitties who received the care they needed! 🎉

And because every big TNR effort seems to come with a few surprises, we managed to snag a couple of friendly littles! These lucky ones are now in foster care or settling in at Molly’s Place, beginning their own journeys toward indoor forever homes. 🥹

Days like these remind us that rescue truly takes a village. From the trapping and transporting to the veterinary care, recovery and everything in between, there’s so much happening behind the scenes.

A HUGE thank you to the amazing teams at Fremont Veterinary Hospital and HSPPR, our dedicated volunteer TNR team, and the generous donors who helped make these clinics possible:

🐾 Lisa Mendelsberg and Colorado Animal Rescue Express (C.A.R.E.)
🐾 Nila S. Hughes
🐾 Lucky Day Animal Rescue

Two colonies, 20 cats and a whole lot of teamwork. That’s how we make a difference, one kitty at a time! 🫶🏼

Just look at all these beautiful faces!

Tonight is bittersweet. 💗🐾For those of you who have followed Ember and Nimbus through their socialization journey, tomor...
10/09/2026

Tonight is bittersweet. 💗🐾

For those of you who have followed Ember and Nimbus through their socialization journey, tomorrow is a big day. These two beautiful girls are heading to one of our amazing adoption partners, where they’ll take the next step toward finding their very own forever homes.

And tonight is our last night together. 🥹

When they first arrived 39 days ago, they were two frightened, feral little kittens who weren’t quite sure what to make of humans. Fast forward to today, and they’ve absolutely blossomed into sweet, affectionate, loving little girls.

They still have their moments. Loud noises can send them scrambling, and those little feral instincts haven’t completely disappeared. But they’ve come SO far. They’ve nearly doubled in size, been spayed and vaccinated, and most importantly, learned that people can be pretty wonderful.

As a foster, you know from the very beginning that goodbye is coming. It’s what we sign up for. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.

Here’s the thing about fostering, though. Goodbye isn’t a failure or a loss. It’s the finish line. It’s the culmination of all the time, patience, energy, and love you’ve poured into helping these little lives become ready for something bigger.

Tomorrow, Ember and Nimbus will take a little piece of our hearts with them. But they’ll also leave behind something pretty special - the knowledge that because someone opened their home and gave them a chance, their future looks entirely different.

Without a foster home willing to take them in and put in the work, these two girls could very well be facing another Colorado winter outdoors.

Instead, they’re heading toward warm beds, full bellies, loving families, and a lifetime of being someone’s very special girls.

And THAT makes every bittersweet goodbye worth it. 💕

So tonight, we’re soaking up every last cuddle.

Fly high, our sweet Em & Nim. You were worth every minute.

Love,
Uncle Jason & Auntie Cristin (JJ’s Social Media Manager)

🐾 Whisker Wednesday Feline Fun Fact 🐾Did you know some kittens are born wearing a coat that isn’t actually their true co...
10/07/2026

🐾 Whisker Wednesday Feline Fun Fact 🐾

Did you know some kittens are born wearing a coat that isn’t actually their true color?

It’s called a “fever coat,” and it’s one of the more fascinating surprises in the feline world!

A fever coat can develop when a mama cat experiences a fever, illness, or significant stress during pregnancy. These conditions can temporarily interfere with pigment production in her developing kittens’ fur, causing them to be born with unusual silvery, smoky, or frosted coats.

As the kittens grow and their adult coloring begins to develop, those lighter hairs gradually shed and are replaced by their genetically determined coat colors. Most fever coats fade significantly within the first few months of life.

And despite the name, a fever coat doesn’t mean the kittens themselves are sick. It’s simply a temporary change in pigmentation that occurred before they were born.

✨ Featured Felines: Mama Charlie and her beautiful babies! ✨

We featured her kiddos last Wednesday, but wanted to officially introduce this black beauty. Her gorgeous little ones are giving us a perfect example of just how dramatic fever coats can be. Fascinating! 💕

Sometimes, the best thing we can do for a kitty is know when to ask for help. 💝With our foster homes full and Molly’s Pl...
10/06/2026

Sometimes, the best thing we can do for a kitty is know when to ask for help. 💝

With our foster homes full and Molly’s Place stretched to capacity, sweet Paula needed a little more time and attention than we could give her.

Thankfully, one of our incredible partners stepped in with a unique opportunity. Paula is now in an environment where she can safely interact with people, build confidence and blossom into the loving, affectionate kitty we know is in there. 🐾

We are so grateful for the partners who collaborate with us, make room when they can and help us find solutions when our usual options are full.

Rescue truly takes a village - and sometimes the perfect next step looks a little different.

And apparently Paula wanted to make sure she said “bye” before making her exit. 😂

Good luck, sweet Paula - we miss you already! 💗

Monday Mood: understaffed. 😹Meatball has completed a thorough staff inventory and reached one very important conclusion:...
10/05/2026

Monday Mood: understaffed. 😹

Meatball has completed a thorough staff inventory and reached one very important conclusion: we need more volunteers!

We need people to love on kitties, care for kitties, clean up after kitties, play with kitties, and generally help with all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps things running around here.

Want even more kitty time? We’re always looking for foster families, too - where the loving, feeding, cleaning and entertaining continues around the clock. 🐾

Think you might be Meatball-approved? Learn more at https://jjshelpingpaws.org/volunteer

And really… with those almost-blue eyes, how are you supposed to tell this face no? 💙

We are officially TWO WEEKS away from JJ’s HUGE Yard Sale & Canned Cat Food Drive! 🐾🎉This is our biggest fundraiser, and...
10/03/2026

We are officially TWO WEEKS away from JJ’s HUGE Yard Sale & Canned Cat Food Drive! 🐾🎉

This is our biggest fundraiser, and thanks to the incredible support of our community, we already have more amazing items than we can possibly fit. We cannot wait for you to come shop, support JJ’s programs, and hopefully help us stock up on canned cat food while you’re there!

A few quick FAQs before the big weekend:

Are you still accepting yard sale donations? No - and that is a very good problem to have! 💝 Our community has been incredibly generous, and we are officially at capacity.

Do you need more volunteers? We have plenty of help lined up, but we truly appreciate everyone who has offered!

Where is it? 1635 Sherman Ave in Cañon City, in Lincoln Park.

What forms of payment will you accept? Credit/debit cards, Venmo and cash. Cash would be especially appreciated if you’re able!

Will spay/neuter vouchers be available? YES! Our Voucher Team will be there BOTH Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM-2 PM selling low-cost spay/neuter vouchers for pet cats and dogs.

Can I come early? Please, no early birds. We’ll be ready for you at 8 AM! 😊

Are you still collecting cat food? Absolutely! If you’re able, please bring canned CAT food to help support our nonprofit and the hundreds of community cats we help feed.

📅 Saturday, October 17 & Sunday, October 18
⏰ 8 AM-2 PM both days
📍 1635 Sherman Ave, Cañon City

100% of yard sale proceeds go directly toward JJ’s life-saving programs, so every purchase truly helps animals right here in our community.

Please SHARE and help us make this our biggest yard sale yet! 🐾💚

Happy Fri-YAY! Tomorrow is voucher day! 🐾💝Our low-cost spay & neuter voucher team will be at Tractor Supply, Saturday 1...
10/02/2026

Happy Fri-YAY! Tomorrow is voucher day! 🐾💝

Our low-cost spay & neuter voucher team will be at Tractor Supply, Saturday 10/3 from 10 AM–12 PM, for Fremont County residents.

🐈‍⬛ Cat vouchers: $25 - includes spay/neuter + two vaccines
🐕 Dog vouchers: $100 + $6 per vaccine

Spaying and neutering is one of the most important things you can do for your pet and for our community. Take advantage of this low-cost opportunity and get it checked off your list tomorrow!

Please share this post with friends, family, and neighbors to help spread the word. 🫶🏼

Address

224 N Cottonwood Avenue
Canon City, CO

Telephone

+17193151665

Website

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